Presidential debate: Atiku makes fresh demand ahead of 2027 election

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The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has stated that his participation in debates ahead of the 2027 general elections will depend on the presence of President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

Atiku’s position was disclosed in a statement released on Tuesday by his official spokesperson, Kenneth Okonkwo.

According to Okonkwo, presidential debates should serve as a platform where candidates of both the ruling party and opposition parties can explain their policies, programmes and plans to Nigerians.

He criticised the practice of holding debates that involve only opposition candidates, describing such an arrangement as “untenable”.

Okonkwo also accused the APC-led government of using opposition-only debates to create divisions among opposition parties while avoiding direct scrutiny of its own policies and record.

The statement reads in full: “Political contest worldwide has always been between the ruling party and the opposition parties. Presidential debates worldwide have also been organised between the ruling party and the opposition.

“The situation in Nigeria today in which presidential debates are organised among the opposition parties only is therefore untenable. This has become a strategy that the failed, incompetent, and corrupt APC government under Tinubu has been using to further instigate the opposition to attack each other while shielding itself from scrutiny by the Nigerian people.

“HE Atiku Abubakar, as the leader of the coalition of opposition parties and leaders, is left with no other choice than to make his appearance in any presidential debates conditional on the participation of President Bola Tinubu and the APC. There is no hiding place for APC in 2027.

“HE Atiku Abubakar is willing to engage the Nigerian people through interviews, townhall meetings, press conferences, and any other forum of interaction with the people but will not participate in any arrangement that will pit the opposition against itself and give undue advantage to APC.

“HE Atiku Abubakar, therefore, challenges President Bola Tinubu to a national presidential debate which will provide an opportunity for both the ruling party and the opposition parties to address Nigerians on their policies and ways to achieve those policies so that Nigerians can make an informed choice for the 2027 elections.”

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